Champion
by Alstroe
Summary: "The day Lyra became Champion, she was elated.  The day after, she was bored."


I don't own Pokemon. Never have, never will. :)

* * *

The day Lyra became Champion, she was elated.

The day after, she was bored.

What was there to do? She heard of Gym Leaders wasting away without challengers worthy enough to defeat them. Lyra supposed this problem was only compounded with her position. Where can you go once you're the best?

So after a few months in the position and only one challenger, who was flicked away like a caterpie after having to defeat the Elite Four, Lyra was attentive to any means of escape possible. Like they'd even let me leave, she thought. But she was determined to find some adventure in this new life of hers.

She had heard of Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and regions unconquered and unnamed. She ached to go, but her mother and the League would never allow it. So she satisfied herself with Kanto and Johto adventures: finding more pokemon, helping people in need of assistance, taking a publicity-stunt tour to the Sevii Islands (and then making a game of seeing how long she could evade her League handlers and the paparazzi).

But she still wanted more, more, more. Nothing was like the open road.

So she was glad of the distraction when Ethan came to visit her.

"I've heard there's someone else."

"What?" Lyra was lazily leaning on a fence near the edge of the forest surrounding New Bark.

"Someone else. A past Champion out there somewhere."

Lyra immediately stood straight up, eyes wide. "Where?" she cried.

Ethan put his hands up and chuckled. "Maybe I'll just keep it a secret, seeing you're so eager to know…"

"Tell me," she pleaded.

"Fine. But you didn't hear this from me, I don't want to get in trouble with the League." He shuddered. "Mount Silver."

"He's on that mountain? No one could survive there!"

"Well, he does."

"It's settled. I have to go fight him, prove I'm rightful Champion. It'll be an adventure." Her eyes flashed. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

"But what about the League?"

"I've done enough of their…_publicity_," she said, her lip curling. "I need an adventure. Here's my chance!"

* * *

Lyra was cold. She was so cold. All she could think of was how her body was freezing, no longer able to even move her fingers. Lyra had been unprepared for this cold. She hadn't known that anywhere or anything could ever be this cold. So she froze in the setting sun.

It was getting hard to keep her eyes open, so she thought she might be seeing things. But no, there really was a dark-haired young man coming towards her with a pikachu on his shoulder. He could be an angel, she thought. Well, he is cute. Lyra closed her eyes, waiting for death or this person to take her.

Red trudged towards the frozen girl and sighed slightly. He was tired of finding travelers dead, in over their heads, trying to climb the mountain and freezing to death. It made him so sad. But then her eyes flickered, and his widened. She was still alive! Hurriedly, he picked her up bridal-style, holding her close to his warm body. Her fingers spastically clutched at his jacket and she instinctively cuddled into him. He started back to his cave as fast as he could.

Red lowered the girl to the ground in his cave, but her fingers still clung to him. He gently uncurled them and built a large fire. As soon as he was done with that, he sat down on the floor next to the girl and held her close, trying to make her warm. As color started to hesitantly flow back into her cheeks, Red glanced at the girl in his arms and smiled slightly. It was nice, having human contact, he decided. And plus, she was kind of cute, for being frozen.

Lyra slept that night and most of the next day, waking as the sun was setting. She slowly opened her eyes, feeling weak, but jumped when she saw the inside of a cave. She slowly tried to sit up and realized there was a boy sitting next to her, holding her. At this, she shrieked.

Red jolted awake.

"Who are you?"

"Red."

"Why am I here?"

"…"

Lyra looked at the boy in disbelief. She had woken up in a strange cave with no idea how she'd gotten here and now he was ignoring her?

"Why won't you answer me?"

"…I don't talk much," he managed.

"Well, how's this? Are you a trainer?"

Red nodded.

"You must be good to be hiking up this mountain." Red shrugged modestly. "Were you ever a gym leader?" He shook his head. "Elite Four?" she asked somewhat sarcastically. He shook his head again. "Champion?" she asked in jest.

Red nodded.

Lyra stopped, thrown. And it all came back.

"So you're the Champion who lives on the mountaintop!"

He nodded again.

"And I remember that I was hiking here but then... nothing! Did I get lost?"

No.

"Attacked? Fainted? Hypothermic?"

Red shook his head to all but the last option.

"And you saved me… Well, thank you," she said, now bashful in the presence of this legendary trainer who had saved her life.

He shrugged again and they sat in silence.

"If I really was hypothermic, I probably shouldn't leave for awhile. So can I stay here for the next few days?" she said in an apologetic whisper, looking down.

And of course he said yes.

So for the next few days, Lyra learned the Champion's routine, his regimen. His heart, his drive. And the more she knew, the more she was drawn to him. He worked so hard to train his pokemon and never asked anything of them he wouldn't do himself.

And Lyra started to fall for this wonderful trainer, this wonderful man.

* * *

One night she asked him, "Why did you leave?"

Red shrugged. It was too hard to explain. Not many understood why he'd throw his fame and position away to live in solitude.

"I came to find you because I've been on the road my whole life, it seems like. I couldn't settle down, be their perfect little Champion. And frankly, now that I am-" she glanced at Red- "I hate being the best."

Red stared at her. She had summed up exactly how he felt in so little words.

"…me too."

* * *

So when the time came and Lyra felt she was well enough to leave, neither really wanted her to have to. So Lyra had an idea.

"Wait! The reason I came up here in the first place was to battle you, so… how 'bout it?"

Red eagerly nodded. His eyes glinted with the spirit of friendly competition, and hers did the same. His first good battle in a long time.

"But, first…" Red looked up.

"How about we make a bet?" Lyra's eyes had a dangerous glint; there was no telling what this free spirited and mischievous girl would come with. Red nodded, slightly. "Whoever wins can ask the other one question or favor and they have to be truthful or perform the favor."

Red nodded again, the fire back in his eyes as he prepared for battle.

"Ok, then, Azumarill, go!"

Red turned his hat around and with a flick of his wrist sent out his charizard. And so the battle began.

The battle lasted for hours. It was neck and neck, several times both pokemon fainting at once.

But finally, Red was down to his Pikachu, his first pokemon, and Lyra her meganium.

"So this is the end," she said, smiling and pulling her hat further down around her ears. Both trainers were panting. Red matched her smile and nodded.

"Ok, then, Meganium, give it all you've got!"

With a flick of his hand Red told his pikachu to enter the battle.

"Meganium, earthquake!" The green pokemon reared back and landed hard, shaking the ground. Pikachu gritted its teeth but then countered by using the vibrations to propel itself into the air, letting out a Thundershock. As Meganium cringed, Red just watched his pokemon respond to the battle, chuckling to himself.

How am I supposed to keep up with that? Lyra thought. "Fine, let's show them everything we've got! Light Screen, then Toxic!"

Meganium produced a strong wall of light around it immediately. It then threw globs of deadly poison at the pikachu as it frantically used Double Team and Agility to escape the toxin attack.

It's too fast, Lyra thought. "Meganium, trip it with Vine Whip, then Toxic!"

Pikachu heard and tried to avoid the vines but Meganium was too skilled. The pokemon tripped, and the grass beast picked it up, trying to ignore the crackling Thunderbolts the mouse was sending out.

Red looked up at this. She's good, he thought.

Meganium used Toxic on the pikachu and the thunderbolts stopped. The little pokemon was twitching from the poison, still entangled in vines.

Red panicked. "Pikachu, Wish!" Lyra snapped her head up to the sound of Red's voice. It must be bad if he's talking, she thought.

"Meganium, we have some time before Wish works! Giga Drain!"

Meganium drained some of Pikachu's energy, healing itself. But then a star shot across the battlefield, and Pikachu, catching Meganium off guard, escaped from its vines. Pikachu was still hurt and poisoned, but it had some time. Red threw a fist into the air in his excitement. Lyra chuckled.

"Now that Pikachu's back on his feet, they're gonna be hard to beat, but I think I know how to!"

"Ok, Pikachu, finish this now! Thunder!"

Lyra smiled. "Return!"

The pikachu charged up as the meganium started running, no galloping, leaping towards the rodent. And the crack of thunder hit just as the meganium went barreling into the pikachu.

When the dust cleared, Meganium stood proud. Lyra had won.

Red stood, incredulous. He walked over to his pikachu and picked it up, softly cooing to it. Lyra, feeling wonderful and proud and awkward and tired all at the same time, walked over to Red. She handed him revive and a full restore.

"I use Toxic a lot," she said, petting her pokemon. "So I always carry this so people can heal their pokemon."

Red looked up at her with a face full of gratitude, and she handed him the potions, blushing.

Pikachu woke up and licked her hand, scampering back over to Meganium. The duo walked off towards Red's cave, friends.

"What are you going to do now?" Lyra asked in little more than a whisper.

Red shrugged. He had no idea.

"You can come down from the mountain now, though!" Red looked at her, shocked. "Well, now you don't have to be a legend, a Champion. You can just be Red," she added softly.

Red looked at her, and she saw in his eyes he couldn't leave. "Why?"

He shook his head, then mumbled out something she could barely hear. "…I'm… I'm still looking for something."

Lyra nodded. She understood. She didn't understand why he had to do it this way, but she understood.

"I…I suppose I should go. I'm all packed." Red looked down and didn't say anything, bringing his cap over his eyes.

But when she turned back to his cave, he caught her hand. Her breath caught, as well. "Wait. The bet."

She hesitantly turned around again, looking into his face. She quickly looked down "Oh. Yes, well, that. Um, I was wondering… well, it's really not a question, it's more of a… favor." She trailed off when she saw his questioning look. "Kiss me," she whispered.

And then he was there and his lips were on hers, and they were _kissing_, finally, and they had found what they were looking for. Her arms twined around his shoulders and his rested on her hips and it was bliss.

But they had to pull apart someday, and they did, flushed. Lyra pulled Red towards her and hugged him tight. He rubbed her back and whispered in her ear.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For letting me be something other than the best."

And she hugged him tighter.

* * *

But she still had to leave, and Red still could not bear to leave his mountain, to face the world. Lyra wished it was different, but knew he needed strength to leave hiding, strength he didn't have yet.

When Lyra returned home, there was a crowd of reporters in front of her house and angry League officials worrying her mother. But this time she was ready to face them, and every time it all got to be too much, she thought of Red.

Lyra faced the world, becoming Johto's sweetheart. But she still went and visited Red, and together, they got through it all. No one ever knew where she would disappear to when she left, except Ethan, of course, but they all had a deal worked out. Lyra wouldn't disappear too often, and they wouldn't ask.

So Lyra was good, even great. She had her Championship, she had her friends, and she had Red. And she knew that someday, she wouldn't come down Mount Silver alone.

* * *

Author's Note: I just love Red. He's so much fun to write, and there so many ways to write him. I had this idea while I was writing Rivals, so here it is!

Review please, I love hearing what you think, good, bad or ugly. ;)

Currently I'm working on a series of drabbles about various types of being left behind, so you should take a look at that. It's called Left Behind.

And check out my profile for a poll on what I should do next! So far it's saying dark oneshots, and I'm more than happy to oblige, those are my favorite. And I've got a quite dark chaptered work in progress, but it's a monster for little old me to write, so it's coming!

That's it for now!

~Sofia


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